RACES: Frail Black Consensus

Inside the vast gymnasium of West Side High
School in Gary, Ind., a kaleidoscope swirled and shifted: elegant
pantsuits vied with flowing African dresses. Brightly colored,
long-collared shirts from Harlem's streets brushed past stetsons and
string ties from Texas. The careful tailoring of pin-stripe suits
contrasted with the bulky military garb of the separatist army of the
Republic of New Africa. The politics of the assembled blacks3,009
delegates to the first national political convention of blacks in the
U.S.were as wildly varied as their attire.

The meeting in Gary grew out of an almost year-long series of small
gatherings of...